Violence Against Indigenous Peoples in Brazil of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Conselho Indigenista Missionário), in Short CIMI
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VVVIIIOOOLLLEEENNNCCCEEE AAAGGGAAAIIINNNSSSTTT IIINNNDDDIIIGGGEEENNNOOOUUUSSS PPPEEEOOOPPPLLLEEESSS IIINNN BBBRRRAAAZZZIIILLL 2008 YEAR REPORT VIOLENCE AGAINST THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN BRAZIL 2008 YEAR REPORT SUPPORT Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi 2 This report is a publication of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), An organization connected to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil PRESIDENT Bishop Dom Erwin Kräutler ADDRESS SDS – Ed. Venâncio III, room 309-314 CEP 70.393-392 – Brasilia – DF Tel: (61) 2106-1650 Fax: (61) 2106-1651 www.cimi.org.br Violence against the indigenous peoples in Brazil – 2008 ISSN 1984-7645 (Portuguese version) RESEARCH COORDINATOR Lúcia Helena Rangel – Doctor of Anthropology – PUC-SP RESEARCH AND GATHERING OF DATA Cimi Regional Offices and Cimi Documentation Section ORGANIZATION OF DATA BANK AND DATA TABLES Aida Cruz, Eduardo Holanda, Leda Bosi, Paul Wolters REVISION OF DATA TABLES Eduardo Holanda, Lúcia Helena Rangel, Paul Wolters SELECTION OF IMAGES Aida Cruz and Marcy Picanço EDITING Paul Wolters FINAL EDITING Marcy Picanço REVISIONS Leda Bosi ART DESIGN Licurgo S. Botelho ENGLISH TRANSLATION Margaret A. Kidd, Paul Wolters Cover photo: An eviction order carried out on an area occupied by more than 200 indigenous and homeless persons in Manaus, in March of 2008. Shock troops, dogs, horses and bombs with moral effect were used in the eviction. Credits: Luiz Vasconcelos / A Crítica This photo, kindly granted by the A Critica newspaper, was the winner of the 2009 World Press Photo Prize in the category daily news. Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi 3 IN HOMAGE Marçal de Souza Tupã- I (1920-1983) November 25 of 2008 it was 25 years ago that Marçal Tupã-i, the voice of thunder, Guarani Nhandeva, was assassinated in the village of Campestre, in Antônio João, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Five shots fired at gun point took his life, when he opened the door of his house hearing an insisting and supplication voice that asked for medicine for an ailing father. The health worker Marçal believed and fulfilled the destiny that he himself foresaw some years earlier: “I am a person marked to die. But for a just cause, we die!” He was a member of delegation that handed a letter to Pope John Paul II in his visit to Manaus, in 1980, and also represented the Union of Indigenous Nations in UN-conference in Boston in 1981. His political activity resulted in persecution, arrests, and death threats. Even today, the police investigation on his assassination has not been closed. The weapon of the crime and the person who ordered it were identified. The executor, at large, was absolved. There were appeals, the family of Marçal insisted for many years; but this is a history without end. Marçal said, more than 25 years ago: “We indians, who live here are the ones who feel the injustice, the poverty, the persecution, hunger, because the area we occupy no longer offers conditions for our survival…” (information drawn from: Prezia, Benedito – Marçal Guarani: the voice that cannot be forgotten. São Paulo: Expressão Popular, 2006) Maria dos Anjos, Guajajara On May 5, 2008, armed men on a motorcycle driving down a road, fired randomly into the village of Anajá, in the indigenous land of Araibóia, Maranhão. One of the shots hit and killed a child watching television in her home. The residents of the village say that the murderers were the same who killed Timóteo Guajajara in 2007. Ever since, the climate of terror and constant threats unsettle the village life. The murder was not denounced at the police office out of fear for reprisals. This type of episodes have become common in Maranhão, as in other regions of Brazil. That the soul of this child by meeting the soul of Marçal Tupã-I Guarani have joined energies to give force to the indigenous peoples of Brazil facing the violence that this report intends to denounce. (occurrence recorded in this report) Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi 4 Guarani Kaiowá – Mato Grosso do Sul – Photo: Egon Heck/Cimi Archive “The green of the flag that the Brazilians brought represented the forest that civilization has torn from us; we live on government lands, like pariahs, crushed. The yellow, represented the wealth of Brazil, the fish and game, today absent from our land; they tore everything from us, all in the name of civilization. The white, which symbolized the peace so desired, today is absent in man kind. And, finally, the blue, which represented the sky, in its florescent beauty – stars and planets shining -, was the only thing that civilization left to the indian, and only because she hasn’t managed to conquer it, yet … ” Marçal de Souza Tupã-I (1921 – 1983) Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi 5 Notice to the reader This is the 2008 year report on violence against indigenous peoples in Brazil of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Conselho Indigenista Missionário), in short CIMI. Methodology The occurrences presented in this report were registered by CIMI during 2008. One source of information are national newspapers. However, equally important as a source of information are the CIMI teams that work throughout Brazil with the indigenous peoples. They report cases of violence they witness or verify in their daily work. They also corroborate, correct and complement the information gathered from the newspapers by the national secretariat. Relevance The report presents many cases of violence against indigenous. However, in spite of the sheer number of cases, this report does not have the pretension to be complete. Unfortunately, there are many more cases of violence and violations happening in Brazil than CIMI could register. This means that none of the numbers presented is an absolute, or total number. In fact, it is more accurate to say that the report presents minimum numbers. Therefore CIMI chooses to relate, in resume, every single occurrence registered. Foremost because every single violence must be registered and denounced, rather than fade away in general numbers. At the same time, these descriptions give relevance to the plain numbers: providing a localization, a date, a name of the victim, the indigenous people involved, the circumstances. Having said that, CIMI does try to relate the registered numbers to the numbers reported in previous years, in order to create a notion of what is going on and to get a hint of any tendencies. CIMI, September 2009 Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi 6 CONTENTS A commitment to life …………………………………………………………………………………….. 9 Bishop of the Xingu Prelature (Pará) and President of Cimi Presentation Disgraceful picture of negligence and devaluation of life ……………………………………. 11 Roberto Antonio Liebgott – Vice President of Cimi Introduction Systemic violence against the indigenous peoples ……………………………………………… 16 Lúcia Helena Rangel – Anthropologist / PUC/SP Chapter I – Violence against indigenous property and assets Land rights related conflicts ………………………………………………………………………….. 24 Possessory invasions, illegal exploitation of natural resources and miscellaneous damages to indigenous property and assets …………………………………….. 28 Omission and morosity in regularization of indigenous lands ……………………………………. 39 Chapter II – Violence against persons practiced by private persons and public sector agents Murder …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 49 Attempted murder ……………………………………………………………………………………. 64 Homicide ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 72 Death threats ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 75 Miscellaneous threats ………………………………………………………………………………… 80 Unjustified physical injuries ………………………………………………………………………….. 82 Abuse of power ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 84 Racism and ethno-cultural discrimination ………………………………………………………….. 90 Sexual violence ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 95 Illegal seizure and retention of bankcards………………………………………………………….. 97 Chapter III – Violence provoked by omission on the part of public powers Suicide and attempted suicide ………………………………………………………………………. 101 Lack of adequate health care ………………………………………………………………………... 110 Death due to lack of health care …………………………………………………………………….. 131 Child mortality …………………………………………………………………………………………. 136 Malnutrition …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 142 Dissemination of alcoholic beverages and drugs …………………………………………………. 145 Failings in the area of indigenous education ………………………………………………………. 149 General lack of assistance …………………………………………………………………………… 155 Chapter IV – Violence against isolated indigenous peoples and peoples of little contact Violence against isolated indigenous peoples and peoples of little contact ……………………. 163 Summary tables ……………………….………………………………………………………….. 170 Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi 7 Xavante children – photo Ronaldo Nina, CIMI Archive Conselho Indigenista Missionário – Cimi 8 A commitment to life s it has done for more than 20 years, also this year CIMI presents data on violations of A the rights of the indigenous peoples in Brazil. This 2009 edition of the report presents the cases recorded in 2008 and their analysis. All these separate cases put together frame the picture of the precarious situation lived, until these days, by most of the 241 indigenous peoples who inhabit the national territory. Looking at the following numbers, photos and reports, we need to ask ourselves why we consent – as a society – to what indigenous Brazilians are facing right now. Twenty years ago, in 1988, the Brazilian people demonstrated respect for the multiethnic and multicultural nature of the country. The Federal Constitution